Scotland has come back from an 8-0 halftime deficit to beat the United States by a scoreline of 22-8.
The first half was a real arm wrestle with the United States getting the better of things through a better completion rate. Their first two tries really put the pressure on Scotland and it caused them to make a few mistakes as they played catch up football.
Scotland actually managed to cross the United States try line a few times but were denied each time. Last minute defense saw Scotland held up, one try was called back from a forward pass, and another try was disallowed because of a clear obstruction call. It all culminated in the United States taking an 8-0 lead into halftime.
In the second half it was pretty clear early on that the United States tough schedule was starting to take a toll. The Tomahawks looked tired in defense after just ten minutes and Scotland capitalized.
Scotland broke through for their first try in the 49th minute and then crossed again a few minutes later to take a 10-8 lead.
In the 57th minute Scotland looked to have scored out of dummy half right in the corner. The decision went to the video referee who said the Scottish player had lost the ball. It was a very close call and the vision was not exactly conclusive. It was a bit of bad luck for Scotland I thought.
The United States went close themselves in the 60th minute when a great long ball out to Matt Peterson saw the winger go close, but drop the ball over the line after being hit in a hard tackle. After that dropped ball, back-to-back penalties against the United States allowed Scotland great field position. Scotland made them pay by scoring in the 63rd minute. It gave them a 16-8 lead, and now it was all uphill for the United States who at this stage looked out on their feet.
Scotland started to dominate possession and field position but as the game got scrappy it kept the Scottish team from running away with the game. The quality of the game really fell away after the 70th minute. Both teams got fired up at times but the game really suffered as both teams started to look at the game clock.
There was a dangerous tackle on Scotland’s Peter Wallace in the 78th minute that was a cross between going past the horizontal and a back slam. The tackle was put on report and it gave Scotland one last shot at the United States line.
The field position allowed Scotland to score with a minute remaining and cap off what was a pretty good comeback win.
One thing I want to mention is the commentators at the World Cup…
For this game we had Dave Woods and Brian Noble commentating the game. They were nothing short of painful to listen to!
They spend all of the game openly cheering Scotland on. It is clear that they don’t know much about players that aren’t from the UK. Its just terrible to watch a good game of footy while having to listen to a couple of Pommy gibberers like these two.
